Last summer, News Corp. cartoon villain Rupert Murdoch filed for divorce from his much-younger third wife, Wendi Deng. Although their marriage had been controversial – his older children from previous marriages were at times in full revolt – Wendi and Rupert seemed to have something that worked for them. She’s 45 years old and Rupert’s 82, and they have two young daughters together. It was said that Wendi worked on “civilizing” Rupert, that she liked to socialize with a younger, hipper, more liberal crowd, and that they enjoyed the (elitist) life they had built together in Manhattan. They were married 14 years, long enough that people were no longer snickering behind Wendi’s back that she was nothing but a golddigger. It seemed like they had proved their worst critics wrong.

But, as I said, Rupert still filed for divorce and it really did seem to come out of nowhere. But maybe Rupert had his reasons. Vanity Fair has a fascinating story about Rupert’s suspicions that Wendi was cheating on him… with former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Holy mother of…! You can read the full VF story here, and here’s the first part:

The passionate note surfaced amid the flotsam of a shipwrecked marriage. It was written in broken English by a woman to herself, pouring out her love for a man called Tony. “Oh, shit, oh, shit,” she wrote. “Whatever why I’m so so missing Tony. Because he is so so charming and his clothes are so good. He has such good body and he has really really good legs Butt . . . And he is slim tall and good skin. Pierce blue eyes which I love. Love his eyes. Also I love his power on the stage . . . and what else and what else and what else . . . ”

The woman was Wendi Deng Murdoch, the Chinese wife of the Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch. The note, not revealed until now, could have been one of the few pieces of evidence in their surprise divorce last year, had the case come to trial. “Tony” was the former prime minister of Great Britain, Tony Blair.

Later, some would claim that Rupert felt betrayed by the close relationship between Wendi and Tony, who was his trusted companion and powerful political ally. Others would insist that Wendi and Tony were just friends, and that the handsome statesman was merely comforting the lonely wife of an absent and distant older husband.

…The dénouement began with the backstairs rumblings of servants. Murdoch, 82, had long heard rumors that his 45-year-old wife was involved in extramarital affairs. But when those rumors grew to include too familiar a relationship with Blair, according to a former News Corp. employee in the U.K., “that was something that really took him aback.” After all, through the power of The Sun, and his other London newspapers, the Times and News of the World, Murdoch had virtually put Blair into office, and Blair had become not only a valued friend but also the godfather of Grace, the older of Rupert and Wendi’s two daughters. (Through a representative, Tony Blair declined to be interviewed. After the announcement of the divorce last June, The Hollywood Reporter published a categorical denial from Blair’s office.)

“She got careless,” the source continues. “And for whatever reason, these affairs . . . they started to multiply and be amplified over the last year. In particular, the two relationships that have been commented on [in the press]: Eric Schmidt [the executive chairman of Google] and Tony Blair. Really shocking. Because when you look at the Blair piece, she would make up an excuse to be somewhere. She would say she’s going up to the ranch in Carmel with a girlfriend. And the girlfriend would leave, and Mr. Blair would turn up, and they would have a day or night. . . . There was staff around, and when you’re dealing with Tony Blair, there’s secret service, and arrangements need to be made.”

(Joint statement from Wendi and Rupert Murdoch: “Given the complicated dynamics of our family, we made the decision early on in this process not to engage in public allegations or respond to negative claims.” Through her representative, Chris Giglio, Wendi Deng Murdoch declined to be interviewed or answer questions.)

VF’s sources say that Murdoch enjoyed seeing Wendi blossom from “a nice Chinese lady” (his words) to a power player in her own right, although Murdoch did miss the fact that Wendi now had larger goals beyond “pleasing Rupert.” VF then goes on to detail how Wendi seemed to use the Murdoch ranch in Carmel, California for her own love nest:

Murdoch’s staff slowly began to keep tabs on Wendi, according to the source, whom they found to be often bad-tempered, but they were hesitant to tell their boss their suspicions of infidelity. Last summer, however, Murdoch told friends, he met with staff members individually and asked them to tell him the truth. They gave him detailed accounts of his wife’s meetings with Blair.

“Mr. Blair was reluctant at first,” says someone who has worked in a Murdoch family home. “They were all mutual friends; there was no reason Mr. Murdoch wouldn’t have welcomed Mr. Blair into his home. But one day Mr. Blair arrived and Mrs. Murdoch was sort of being very flirtatious. She was charming him. He asked the staff, ‘When is Mr. Murdoch going to arrive?’ And when he was told, ‘Tomorrow night,’ Mr. Blair rolled his eyes and gave a panicked look.”

On October 7, 2012, a Sunday, Wendi had told Rupert that she was having a girls’ weekend at the ranch, according to the former News Corp. employee. She had become part of a cabal of strong, successful women, and such girls’ weekends had become common in the marriage, whether on Rupert’s 184-foot sailboat, Rosehearty, on his boat off St. Barth’s, or at the Golden Door spa, in Escondido, California. That weekend, according to the source, Rupert’s mother, Dame Elisabeth, 103, “had been sent home from the hospital, and the family was going to gather, because she was expected to die within a few days. [She died two months later.] Nonetheless, Wendi went up to the ranch.”

Only one girlfriend, Kathy Freston, the self-help author and estranged wife of former Viacom C.E.O. Tom Freston (V.F.’s “Our Man in Kabul”), joined Wendi, the source continues. “The girlfriend was up there but left early . . . and Tony Blair arrived on Sunday, which is confirmed by someone who saw him at the ranch.”

That same weekend, Kathy Freston attended an event where some of Rupert Murdoch’s friends saw her. “The cover was sort of blown,” says the source. (Asked to be interviewed, Kathy Freston responded, “I’d prefer not to be involved in this, and besides, I don’t have anything interesting to say.”) “Wendi then left on Monday,” the source continues. “What’s interesting is that her husband had been trying to reach Tony on a different subject and ended up speaking to him the next week by phone. But he didn’t mention that he had seen Wendi, as you can imagine. Around this time, Blair was actively and successfully soliciting funds for his foundation from her husband.”

OMG. This actually explains a lot – the suddenness of the divorce filing, the fact that Rupert seemed to push Wendi out and the fact that Rupert’s personal life is always going to have a whiff of trashiness, which is perfect for his tabloid professional persona. That being said, I do have to wonder: why not just hack into Wendi’s emails and cellphone records? I mean, we all know that’s what Rupert would have preferred.

Comments are Closed

I can believe she cheated on him, but not with Tony Blair. I also believe he’s smearing her in the press on purpose, and I doubt old Rupert was faithful to her either. I think both of these fools are despicable, and cheating is one of the least of the nasty things these assholes do. My only sympathy resides with the kids.

Meh, I detest Tony Blair, but I really don’t see him as a cheat. He seems devoted to his wife, and doesn’t appear to be the type who’d mess around with the wife of a man who might have the power to damage his multi-million pound fortune.

He may be a cartoon villain, but she is a world class cartoon monster–grasping, amoral, home wrecking narcissistic, scheming force of destruction. She got to America by stealing the husband of the kind woman who tutored, sponsored, and helped her–they had two young children. Exactly 7 months after she got her green card, she divorced him, took up with another guy, dumped him leaving him to traumatized to even speak of her.

The article contains even more juicy details–including her other dear diary entry about the Google CEO. JeLous of his girlfriend , she bragged to herself about how ” I so so so sexy, I so gorgeous, he seeing me looking so good” and on and on and how he would be sorry. Apparently also Rupert’s elderly mom has publicly stated that if he divorced his wife Anna, (and Anna blames Wendi for home wrecking) he would fall for the first designing woman who came along and “that’s exactly what happened”. She is Cruella DeVil and I believe she has probably killed people and if not, she would if she thought she could get away with it.

@Izzy.
Wendi was actually like 16 or 17 at the time, so the man is way creepier and disgusting when you think about it considering he was supposedly in his 40s or 50s if I remember correctly. Bordering on stat. rape and would be stat. rape in California, but maybe not Texas.

She did hook up with other married men besides that guy, just like Rupert cheated on his wives, but I’m not sure bringing up her actions when she was underage is okay. Frankly, I think both Rupert and Wendi are disgusting people but their cheating is one of the least of the worst that they’ve done. Those two have literally destroyed people’s lives and tried to influence the government.

The other guy she took up with after she dumped the married man was not married–evidently he served some other purpose — but she dumped him when he could no longer be useful to her. The cheating husband she first took up with, for what its worth, has been punished repeatedly and via a variety of means from the ongoing fall out.

Another thing the story brings out is that she is one of those people who kiss the ass and charm important people who can help her like Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, CEOS, but abuses the powerless. At home she curses, screams, throws things at the her staff and even Rupert himself. During one argument, she pushed him over into a piano. She bragged in public about how “strict and critical” she was with him and everybody saying it was her form of showing love.
I hope her stepchildren never ate any of the food she served them.

First, where someone underage is concerned, the right side to take is the side of the underage person.

However, in the case of Wendi Deng, those men [and their wives/girlfriends], even Rupert, had no idea what hit them.

She slept her way to the top. No doubt about it. I shudder to think the havoc she wrecked in China before she charmed that American couple into taking her in and sponsoring her, before she ran away with the husband long enough to get her green card.

Once that was accomplished, she dumped him and moved onto another man who was also useful in setting her up. their relationship status is always irrelevant to her. She stays with them long enough to accomplish her material goals.

once that goal was accomplished, she dumped him. rise and repeat and UP we go using every man along the way until she hit the jackpot that is Murdoch.

On the other hand it’s extremely entertaining that a man as sharp as Murdoch could be taken in by such a woman, but they don’t call it feminine wiles for nothing.

Wendi will be fine. She’ll hook another fish, who will smooth her path to her next goal.

A lot of the women from poor areas in the world/third world countries–that’s what they do. My mom was in the Navy, and knew, personally, two people this had happened to (these are the stories that she told me). She knew this one guy, in the Navy, he was black, and his wife was Filipino. They were overseas for five years of their marriage, and had two kids, I think. As soon as they got to America, and she got her green card, she just left. Didn’t take the kids with her or anything, and filed for divorce. He didn’t see her again, except in court. His mom had to take the kids, when he was stationed overseas again.

When I was living in Guam, I met this family–we were neighbors— that the same thing happened. There were four kids, and they were spread out. The oldest one was 16, 14, 10, and then 7/8–we were all friends. Well it was just their dad–he was white, the mom was Filippino as well. As soon as they touched American soil and she got her green card, she was GONE. Told him flat out in the divorce that she didn’t want the kids at all. Which is really sad.

All hail the “Queen” of gold diggers in this world!( Simon cowells babymama must have been her first deciple), man ,i loathe such women , in this world there a bunch of women who are struggling to make their name in the world based purely on their intelligence and smartness all the while keeping their integrity and self respect and then there are women like her ….

Me too, and sadly, Wendi is viewed as a role model and patron saint for aspiring young Chinese women known as “Shanghai Ladies” according to the story whose only goal is to inveigle a wealthy man into marrying them.

As if those wealthy men are innocent bystanders! Even Deng’s first husband who wasn’t wealthy or powerful, dumped his wife for an underage girl.

Sorry but as long as men are stupid enough to leave their spouse for some young hot thing (why do men think it’s about love? dumbasses), I don’t blame women for seeing it as a way to get out of the gutter.

I do think it’s morally wrong and it’s not my cup of tea but the world isn’t fair and this is good gossip so I’m not going to pressed or surprised by it. This is high society after all and much worse things have been done there, cheating is is as common as getting dressed for the day!

I don’t exonerate the men. They are cheating scum who got what they deserved. But don’t think that women like Wendi achieved their objective simply by being lovely and alluring to the weak cheating men. I have a friend who had her marriage destroyed by cheating husband + a low rent version of Wendi. The woman called my friend to tell her about the affair. After the husband confessed, begged forgiveness and sought reconciliation and marriage counseling to save his family, “Wendi” undermined their effort to reconcile at every turn by harassing phone calls, texts and emails to my friend spelling out the disgusting details of their sexual acts and saying exactly the same kind of things, in the same kind of broken English –”I so stylish, so cool, so sexy, etc.” Her destructive, manipulative behavior ensured no reconciliation. It was a ruthless, planned campaign of demolition to break up the marriage.

Whatever type of woman they are cheating with, it’s the fact that they are cheating that ruins the marriage. If they wouldn’t be so stupid to cheat, the woman wouldn’t have disgusting evidence to potentially ruin the marriage. The more crazy and vindictive the mistress, the more the man maybe learns his lesson for the next time he wants to cheat (on his new or current partner).

There’s a reason why Fatal Attraction was such a big deal during its time. People want to cheat but sometimes the consequences are more than what they bargained for. I really don’t care for cheaters and their side piece(s) but I enjoy the shitstorm it causes in their lives when it comes out.

I really do feel for the people who get cheated on. It sucks for your friend and I hope she found/finds hapiness in her life with a man that respects her and fidelity

She shared a story of an legendary tale. About an emperor and his two wives (evil and good) and the origins of the term homewrecker. It was posted June 14. It says a lot abot how Chinese people view women like Deng (not good).

I don’t know how much truth there is to this but this is the epitome of delightfully good old fashioned gossip. Forget the Kim Kardashians of the world. This is the stuff of wide eyes, ‘oh really’, and ‘tell me more’ with a smirk.

Less said about Murdoch the better. My head might end up exploding otherwise. Interestingly enough, I recently had the chance to meet the gentleman who foam-pied Murdoch in the face during the phone hacking trial. He was very intelligent, articulate and said that the 6 weeks he spent behind bars were…very hot .

Interesting that Wendi goes for power not looks. (And forgive me, but didn’t she squeeze in the time to get some written English lessons somewhere? Wasn’t she a senior exec in news corp in the US at one point? Those notes are practically illerate – surely they can’t be real?)

I’d be surprised if TB had a full blown physical affair, but I bet the man can flirt for Britain when it suits.

I’m wondering about those notes as well- were they real or cooked up. Or maybe she fell back into old habits because of her excitement, you know like sometimes an accent that comes out when you’re emotional.

she is one naughty girl:
from wikipedia:
“When Deng was living with Jake and Joyce Cherry during her studies in the United States, Joyce Cherry discovered her husband, Jake, was having an affair with Deng, who was 30 years his junior, and demanded she leave the house. Jake Cherry soon followed and moved in with her,and the two married in 1990. Their marriage lasted 2 years and 7 months before they were legally divorced,but Jake would later explain they only stayed together for 4 or 5 months,when he learned that Deng was spending time with David Wolf, a man closer to her age. Nonetheless, she had been able to secure a green card through her marriage to Cherry.”

her planning and carrying out is top notch, i have to admit that. first getting her studies paid by a couple than having an affair and marrying the man, getting a green card and then snagging one of the most powerful men in the world.

As a student of TCM (traditional Chinese medicine), I am surrounded by Chinese expatriates who are wonderful, lovely people, caring healers, and dedicated teachers. I also study Chinese culture and history in an effort to augment my TCM studies. It makes me sad to see this caricature of a grasping Chinese dragon lady/sex bomb.

It’s interesting how all cultures seem to have their version of Madonna/whore. For Chinese (and Asian in general, I reckon) women, it seems to be that their roles are either “study nerd/self-effacing laundry lady” or “Shanghai lady/voracious sexual dragon lady” but not what I see each day on campus: real people who work hard, have good hearts, and who are just as interesting and varied as anyone else.

It makes for good gossip, and yes, she certainly does play into all the stereotypes. But I love my teachers and they represent China for me, not her. Wendi Deng just makes me sad and irritated–she is a horrible representation of an awful stereotype and there are people who will, in fact, see her as an accurate representation of Chinese women. That bugs me.

As a person of Chinese decent, I think those “roles” aren’t prescribed by the Chinese themselves, but rather, are stereotypes imposed upon them. Even to this day, one is hard-pressed to find Asian characters in movies and tv that aren’t the same ol’ stereotypes of med student/lab tech/seductress/etc.

Oh, yes, I do agree with that…it’s Orientalism at its most pernicious.

UGH.

My teachers work so hard…

And when I was a kid, just since I’m here, let me say…my grandparents lived in the Bay Area and we’d visit and that was often a chance to go to Chinatown. Old Chinese people are so kind to small children. I still remember how sweet they were to me when I was a little girl.

Do people actually believe those stereotypes anymore? Its a country of a billion people, I think that most understand that there are a wide variety of people in China. Obviously there’s a limited portrayal in movies, but that’s representative of pretty much every group other than white men.

As a Chinese, I never believe that she wrote diaries in English unless she left that to be found out and published on purpose. Don’t know if the affair is true, but writing diaries in English? Seriously even if she truly had the habit of writing diaries, Chinese would be much more comfotable and safer language to her since I think, it’s her mother tongue and few Americans can understand Chinese.